The present application is related to co-pending U.S. patent applications entitled SYSTEM FOR COMMUNICATING INFORMATION AMONG A GROUP OF PARTICIPANTS, filed on the same day as the present application, Ser. No. 09/426,648, invented by Hanson, Miller and Axe; and METHOD FOR COMMUNICATING INFORMATION AMONG A GROUP OF PARTICIPANTS, filed on the same day as the present application, Ser. No. 09/427,152, invented by Hanson, Miller and Axe; and such applications are incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth herein.
The present invention relates generally to communication networks, and more particularly, to a system and method for communicating information among a group of participants connected to such networks using a dynamic distribution of data.
Many applications are known that can be implemented to promote communication among members or participants in a group. For example, bulletin boards, news groups, and scheduling programs (e.g. Lotus Notes) each offer thread management and archiving functions for public and private consumption. Several of these applications can be accessed via computer networks, such as the Internet.
Each of these applications suffers from certain drawbacks. One such drawback is that most group applications require a user to locate the application by browsing the World Wide Web (xe2x80x9cWebxe2x80x9d), accessing a Universal Record Locator (xe2x80x9cURLxe2x80x9d), or other proprietary means. Consequently, the user must either have prior knowledge of the specific URL or navigate the Web. In the case of Web navigation, the member may access unwanted links to other web sites, when searching for the desired application. This tends to frustrate and confuse the member.
Another drawback to known application systems is that a member is required to use a proprietary client-server system. For example, to schedule a conference having many members using Lotus Notes or Outlook Exchange, each member of the group must be configured to use the specified client-server system. This is unduly burdensome and potentially expensive to the members of the group.
Group applications, such as a poll located on the Web, are also often unstructured. To accumulate answers to a poll, the question can be posted on a web site for members in the group to access and answer. However, any computer user with a web browser that can access the web site containing the question may also answer. In this way, unwanted answers are submitted, and the poll results tend to be inaccurate. Participation by unwanted users can be limited by implementing a security mechanism. Typically, this requires a member to complete tedious surveys, cumbersome biographical forms and annoying questionnaires, and also input possible confidential information.
Some applications can be integrated with Internet electronic mail (xe2x80x9ce-mailxe2x80x9d) to also restrict the number of users to only specified recipients of the e-mail messages. However, current e-mail systems have several drawbacks. Known e-mail systems can only support static content messages. This means that the content of the e-mail message may become stale or outdated as members of the group consider the message and respond.
Using current e-mail systems, the user is also faced with the daunting task of sorting messages accumulated from group members. Once gathered together, the user must sift through the text of these messages, which is often duplicated. Additionally, content embedded in an e-mail, such as an attached file, is unnecessarily duplicated and stored on a number of mail servers. This wastes bandwidth and can cause bottlenecks in the network.
In general, the present invention is directed to an electronic medium that can be used to communicate information to or collaborate among a group of participants connected to a network. The electronic medium includes at least one dynamic content region that is asynchronously dynamically updated or dynamically retrieved based on input from at least one participant or from an external source in data communication with the server. The electronic medium supports various content-types. In this way, the content in the dynamic content region is always current when read by any of the participants using the electronic medium independent of a type of system or client associated with the participants.
Accordingly, in one aspect, the present invention is directed to an electronic medium that includes a transport envelope having a plurality of network addresses. An encoding layer may be contained in the transport envelope to support a plurality of content-types. Each of the plurality of content-types may include a plurality of dynamic and static content. An interface region may be configured in the electronic medium to accept input from at least a user of the electronic medium or from an external source in data communication with the electronic medium. The dynamic content may be dynamically asynchronously updated based on the input from at least the user or the external source.
Implementations of the invention include one or more of the following. The dynamic content may include an IFRAME or an ILAYER tag associated with the dynamic content. The electronic medium may be configured using a MIME construct. The electronic medium may include a command identifying the dynamic or the static content. The electronic medium may be configured to display a plain text message corresponding to the dynamic content, when one of the content-types cannot support the dynamic content. The dynamic content may include images, audio content, video content, binary content, executable content, or text. The electronic medium may include an advertising region detailing a subject matter of the electronic medium, and a forwarding region to forward the electronic medium. The input from the external source may be news feeds or stock quotes. The input may include text. The dynamic content may be served to the user asynchronously relative to the updating of the dynamic content. The electronic medium may include control data having a header for an Internet or an electronic mail protocol. The electronic medium may be configured for use over a communications channel or a data channel.
In another aspect, the present invention is directed to an electronic medium that includes a transport envelope having a plurality of network addresses. An encoding layer contained in the transport envelope may support a plurality of content-types. Each of the plurality of content-types may include a plurality of dynamic and static content, where the dynamic content is asynchronously dynamically updated based on the input from a user or an external source.
Implementations of the invention may include one or more of the following. The electronic medium may include an interaction region for accepting the input from the user of the electronic medium. The electronic medium may include control data having a header for an electronic mail protocol. The electronic mail protocol may be MIME or SMTP. The control data may include an identifier for a virtual image, which maps at a server to the dynamic content. The control data may include an image source tag and an identifier for the virtual image which maps at a server to the dynamic content. The control data may include at least one additional code invoked on execution of the control data to retrieve additional dynamic content managed in a server and to display the additional dynamic content upon retrieval. The dynamic content may include information about a history of changes that have occurred in the dynamic content. The control data may also include image data encoded according to an electronic mail protocol. The control data may be configured using HTML or XML.
In accordance with a further aspect, the invention is directed to an electronic medium including a MIME construct having an encoding layer to support a plurality of content-types. An interface region may be configured in the electronic medium to accept input from the user of the electronic medium or from an external source in data communication with the electronic medium. Dynamic content may be included in each of the plurality of content types that is asynchronously dynamically updated based on the input from the user or from the external source.
The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.